Soul In The Picture Of Dorian Gray

The soul is the primary focus of The Picture of Dorian Gray. The term is used freely in the book with Dorian making a wish right in the beginning. Dorian exclaims “’If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that – for that – I would give everything! I would give my soul for that!’” (28). Dorian does not arrive at this wish independently, however. Right off the bat Dorian is influenced by Lord Henry. Lord Henry and his yellow book are the harbingers that bring the corruption to Dorian’s soul. The soul is very much a physical thing in this world.

The story starts with Basil gushing about Dorian. He does not want Lord Henry to have anything to do with him. When he finds that their meeting is inevitable

This fits because Dorian is easily influenced by Harry and begins acting as he does. Dorian receives this tainted soul very early on in the book and tries to resist it multiple times, but fails. When Lord Henry first starts to realize what he is doing he thinks to himself that he is “amazed at the sudden impression that his words had produced, and, remembering a book that he had read when he was sixteen, a book which had revealed to him much that he had not known before, he wondered whether Dorian Gray was passing through a similar experience” (22). The book mentioned is no doubt the one that Dorian receives later in the story. At this point it is evident that Dorian is linked to the painting. When Basil tries to destroy the painting Dorian cries “’It would be murder!’” (29). If it is true that his soul was already linked, he would have been dead if Basil stabbed the painting. He also states that “’When I find that I am growing old, I shall kill myself’” (28), which is interesting because that is exactly what happens. Dorian then moves on to what could have been his saving grace, Sibyl

He states “’When I am with her, I regret all that you have taught me. I become different from what you have known me to be. I am changed, and the mere touch of Sibyl Vane’s hand makes me forget you and all your wrong, fascinating, poisonous, delightful theories’” (75). If Dorian had held on to her, she probably could have reversed what Henry had done. Instead, after seeing her poor acting, he breaks her heart ruthlessly. He tells her “’You have killed my love’” (84), and “’What are you now? A third-rate actress with a pretty face’” (85). This is arguably one of the biggest mistakes he makes in the book. This is what causes the first change in the painting. Her suicide pushed him further down his path to insanity. Before he learns of her death and after the change in the painting, there is some hope for him when says he “would resist temptation. He would not see Lord Henry and more…He would go back to Sibyl Vane, make her amends, marry her, try to love her again. Yes, it was his duty to do so” (89). This is a promising outlook for him, but it does not matter because her suicide reverses this. Although it is possible that he would not have been saved had she not died. He asks himself “’why is it that I cannot feel this tragedy as much as I want to?’” (97). This shows he has lost some of his empathy. He also starts to think positively of the painting after this, thinking that it is great that